Meg Nicholls heads north for just a single ride at Newcastle tonight. It’s a track where she has a 10% strike rate and a level stakes profit of £50 so far in her career, Wolverhampton her best strike rate on the all-weather at 11% so Newcastle has suited her well.
Her single mount tonight comes up for Kevin Ryan in the 6.40. An opening show of 11-1 didn’t last long and at time of writing, a best price of 13-2 is only available at Betfair and Paddy Power, with most bookmakers only 11-2 on her chance. She rides a horse who has some very smart form over this course and distance in the past so the money looks fascinating.
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Runner-up in this same race last season from a mark a pound higher, Rathbone is the horse in question who has attracted all the support. That was a career best RPR that he produced twelve months back off the back of a run in January. He contested that exact same race in January once more in 2021 so this looks a well plotted route back to this race from trainer Kevin Ryan.
Ryan is having a better winter period than he did last campaign, already 2/11 on the year with a pair of seconds on top of that. Both of Rathbone’s wins have come over six furlongs but his three runs over seven furlongs at Newcastle are all in the top five RPR’s of his twenty-three run career. This course and distance clearly suits him perfectly so he needs plenty of each way respect following the same route back here.
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